Delta Announces Double Miles From Seattle

It’s not often I feel sorry for an airline, but I’ve gotta be honest — I feel kind of bad for Alaska Airlines and can’t help but feel like Delta hasn’t been acting in good faith with them. Last October Delta announced huge international expansion in Seattle, which was supposed to further strengthen their relationship with Alaska. The premise of the expanded relationship was that Alaska would provide the additional domestic feed for Delta’s additional international service.

Delta announced several daily frequencies from Seattle to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Alaska reacted by announcing a double miles promotion (both redeemable and elite qualifying) on several of the overlapping routes through May 31, 2014.

Well, today Delta announced they’d be encroaching even further on Alaska’s territory, as they’ll now be flying four times daily between Seattle and Portland using CRJ-900 aircraft, which even feature a first class cabin. The service begins on September 2, 2014.

They’ve also announced a similar promotion to the one Alaska is offering. Delta is offering double miles (both elite qualifying and redeemable) between select city pairs for travel booked by December 31, 2013, for travel through October 31, 2014. Registration is required prior to making the reservation, and the promotion is valid for travel from Seattle to Anchorage, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Portland.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this relationship progresses. It’s clear they’re no longer acting in good faith or partners by choice. Rather I think both airlines feel trapped. Delta can’t possibly provide feed to all of the places that Alaska serves out of Seattle and probably needs that feed to fill their international flights, while Alaska probably can’t afford to turn down all that traffic.

In the meantime it’s good news for us. I expect we’ll see some fare wars and lucrative promotions like the ones being offered by both carriers right now.

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

I really don’t think AS has anything to worry about. The low profit passengers chasing the best fare aren’t the ones they need to keep loyal to have a good business. So long as AS keeps their head on straight and treats their customers right, they have nothing to worry about.

But, if they screw them over even once, years of trust are out the window and they are just another big, bad, scummy airlines in which case they deserve whatever fate befalls them.

I’m voting with my dollars. Every flight I can take on AS, I do. Hopefully they will realize that is a direct result of my belief in their integrity and respond by treating me with ethically.

I’ll keep buying those full fare F tickets but if they gut their award chart then I’m history and I won’t ever come back.

I’ve had to fly DL as a partner with AS on many, many occasions. For all they have done lately in practice and in marketing their hubris and arrogance as a result of their mega-size status is fascinating given their poor service and worthless (IMHO) SkyPesos program.

AS, while partnering with many, is a strong airline. I would be seeking other partners that may treat them much better than DL and let DL think they’re all that.

In the end, service means as much to me as the value of my miles. To me, I’m wasting miles for an inferior flight experience on DL vs. other partners on award travel. YMMV.

Delta is the joke of the skies. Despite them being a huge airline, I’m staying with Alaska! I fly them all the time, and they always have done right by me. I’m came to the dance with Alaska, and I’m leaving with Alaska.

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